Floor Statements

On behalf of Senator Reed of Rhode Island, Senators Landrieu, Levin, Brown of Ohio, and others, I have a substitute amendment which is at the desk.

On that amendment, Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

I have a first-degree perfecting amendment which is at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion on the substitute amendment which has already been submitted at the desk.

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Cantwell, for herself and Senator Johnson of South Dakota, Senator Graham, Senator Shelby, and others, I have an amendment at the desk to the language proposed to be stricken.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

I have a second-degree amendment that is also at the desk.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion with respect to the Reid for Cantwell, Johnson of South Dakota, Graham, Shelby amendment.

Mr. President, I have a motion to commit the bill with instructions which is at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

I have an amendment to my instructions at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion on the bill, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived for the cloture motions just filed.

Mr. President, let me take a moment to review what has transpired this morning.

Last week the House passed the pending small business capital formation bill by a vote of 390 to 23. President Obama has endorsed the bill very publicly; thus, this is a measure the Senate should consider expeditiously and pass in short order.

The Republican leader and I have had preliminary conversations about how to process this bill. Initial indications are that the Senate would not be able to agree to a time agreement providing for a limited number of amendments; so I proceeded today to ensure consideration of at least two amendments. So, on Tuesday, the Senate will vote first on the motion to invoke cloture on the Reed of Rhode Island amendment. That amendment is sponsored also by Landrieu, Levin, and Brown of Ohio, which is a substitute, as I have indicated.

After disposition of that amendment, the Senate will next vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the bipartisan Cantwell, Johnson, Graham, Shelby Export-Import amendment. This Ex-IM Bank amendment is very important. The legislation just last year created 300,000 jobs and affected 2,000 communities in America. These jobs I am talking about are all American jobs.

After disposition of that amendment, the Senate would then vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the underlying bill. In the meantime, I am always open to unanimous consent agreements to aid in disposition of the bill. So I look forward--if there are things I can help with, I will be happy to do this.

I will say this. I spoke before my presentation here today to my friend from Colorado Senator Udall. I have worked with him not for days, not weeks, not months but years on an issue that is extremely important to our country; that is, an issue to help credit unions, which have been so important to our country over the years.

During this economic meltdown we have had around the country, in Nevada credit unions have been a lifeblood for small businesses and individuals. We have tried and worked to get this matter on the floor. There is always some reason for not doing it. I understand the anxiousness of my friend from Colorado to have it on this bill. I will be happy to see if there is a way of doing this by consent, but there is no other way of doing it except by consent because it is not germane to the bill before us.

As I told him, I am starting today, on my own, to begin the procedural efforts to have this brought before the Senate. I think we have waited long enough. There is never a good time. There is always some reason of somebody that we have to do this now. This is a bill that presents problems for people because a number of the banks don't want this to happen. But I do, and I am going to do everything I can to have this brought before the Senate.

I will be happy to yield to my friend from Colorado. If he has any questions of me, I will be happy to respond to those or, if he has anything I can respond to in the way of any consent agreement that he wants or whatever, I am here at his disposal.

Mr. President, through the Chair to my friend from Colorado, he has talked about the work I have done. I haven't done much. He has been the leader, and I have been with him all the way. This is truly his issue. He is right. I have supported him from the very beginning, and I admire his resilience. Each time he brings this up, he is pushed back for some other reason. Personally, as I told him today, it is to the point now where we are going to have a vote on this.

There will be people coming to me, Why are you doing this? We are going to have a vote on this. Democrats and Republicans are going to have to make a decision where they stand for American credit unions.

Mr. President, first of all, we had a good week. We have worked together on issues and gotten a lot done. We have one more vote. That will be the last vote this week. The next vote will be Tuesday before the caucus.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Agriculture Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 473.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 886 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Boozman- Pryor amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; and that any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 398, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until Monday, March 19, at 2 p.m.; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 334, H.R. 3606, the IPO bill; further, that the filing deadline for first- degree amendments to the Reed of Rhode Island substitute amendment and H.R. 3606 be at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. President, there will be no votes on Monday. The Senate should expect the next vote on Tuesday morning prior to the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Madam President, following leader remarks the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1813, the highway bill. Senators should expect three rollcall votes at 11:30 a.m. on two remaining amendments to this bill that we have been working on for such a long time and to final passage of that bill.

Upon disposition of that, the Senate will be in morning business until 2 p.m. At 2 p.m., the Senate will be in executive session. At 2:30 p.m., there could be up to 17 cloture votes unless an agreement can be reached on those nominations.

Madam President, it is a real accomplishment for this Senate to pass this highway bill, and it will happen. We worked through all these amendments, different tones and variations of subject matter, many of them not having anything to do with the highway bill, but as everyone knows, that is what the Senate is all about a lot of the time.

I now call upon my friend, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to move this bill over there as quickly as possible. He has indicated that they likely will take up the Senate bill. I hope that is, in fact, the case.

At the end of this month the highway bill expires, which could lead to the laying off and termination of a little more than a million people. This bill, when it is signed by the President, will save or create 2.8 million jobs. It is important to get this done.

As for the judges, there have been conversations with me and a number of different combination of Senators, and I am hopeful we can work something out on this. If not, as I indicated, we will go ahead and have these judges votes. We need to get something done here. We have 17 judges--this does not count the appellate judges--that is, the circuit court judges--and there are 4 of those. I am hopeful we can work our

way toward this culmination so we don't have this situation.

We have been in touch with the White House. There has been some concern about what happens with the 2-week recess that we have, and I am confident we will work our way through that. There is a conversation as to how we proceed with the IPO bill we got from the House. I think there is general agreement that there should be an extremely limited number of amendments, and we will move this as quickly as possible. So I hope the next day or two or three brings us more success here in the Senate.

Would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. President, I will take just a minute to talk about the bill we are going to vote final passage on in just a few minutes. I cannot say it enough--I have said it a lot, I will continue to say it-- this is a wonderful opportunity for the Senate and a great accomplishment for our country. What I say just now I have said many times because it feels so good to say it. One of the most progressive Members of this body and one of the most conservative Members of this body got together and said they wanted to do a bill that was good for the American people, a bill that will save or create 2.8 million jobs. We have had some scuffles along the way, but that is what the Senate is all about. The rules of the Senate sometimes demand scuffles, as difficult as they are. We now have a bill that will pass, and it will have a significant bipartisan vote.

I so appreciate Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe helping us work through this bill. But for them we could not have done the bill. Frankly, Senator McConnell and I could not have accomplished this. But with these two fine Senators working to move some of the obstacles in the path, we were able to do this. As late as yesterday, we were unable to get this done. I so appreciate their hard and good work.

As everybody knows, I am a very good friend of Barbara Boxer's. We came to Washington together 30 years ago. What a lot of people don't know about is the very close personal relationship I have with Jim Inhofe. One of the finest letters--and it brings tears to my eyes, frankly--that I received during my wife's illness was a letter from him expressing his friendship to me and, of course, saying they would say prayers for my wife. So this is, for me, an opportunity to talk about how good the Senate can be. I am proud of every one of you for working our way through this.

Before propounding a unanimous consent request, I want to say that Senator McConnell and I have reached an agreement on the judges. He will explain it to his caucus, as I will to mine. It is something that I feel is in keeping with what we do here. It is like all matters we do here legislatively--it is an effort to work out a compromise.

Cloture Votes Vitiated

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all of the cloture votes scheduled for 2:30 today be vitiated.

Mr. President, I have learned in my years in the Senate, especially since Senator Leahy took over the Judiciary Committee, that I don't do anything with the Judiciary Committee--especially with judges--that I don't clear first with Senator Leahy. He has been an integral part of our agreement on the judges issue.

Mr. President, I would like to engage in a colloquy with my good friends the Senator from Kentucky, the Republican leader, and the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus.

Earlier today the Senate completed action on a transportation measure that provides for investment in our Nation's infrastructure. The Senate works best when we work together, as evidenced by the broad bipartisan support for this bill.

I would like to take a moment to raise another issue of mutual interest--the extension of tax provisions that have expired or are expiring this year. These provisions, although temporary, are long- standing features of our tax system, including the research credit, renewable energy production and efficiency incentives, and the State sales tax deduction. They provide important benefits, not just for American families and businesses, but to our economy as a whole.

Although we were unable to address the package of tax extenders as part of the transportation bill, I was encouraged by the level of Senators' interest in extending these provisions in a timely fashion.

I would welcome the opportunity to work with my friend from Kentucky in finding a path forward soon on tax extenders. It is important that we take care of this early in the year so that taxpayers can plan and make investment decisions.

I thank the Republican leader. I look forward to working with him and our Senate colleagues to pass tax extenders on a seamless and timely basis. It is important that we provide taxpayers with much- needed certainty.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.